Arsenal 2 - Manchester City 2: Robbed. Again.
Today at 02:45 PM
If I speak, I am in trouble.
Arsenal came oh-so-close to winning at Manchester City. A 2-2 draw is still a great result, especially under the circumstances, but those same circumstances make it feel as if Arsenal had two points taken from them. It's particularly tough to stomach after the Gunners dropped points at home to Brighton for the exact same thing — a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after a whistle.
Manchester City started the game really well, as well as I've seen them play for a long time. They were rewarded with a goal when Riccardo Calafiori got spun on the halfway line by Savinho, who put Erling Haaland in between the two Arsenal centerbacks, who were way too stretched on the move. It was far too simple of a goal to concede, honestly. Calafiori can't get beat like that and the centerbacks can't be that wide. You also have to ask questions of Thomas Partey, who was neither far enough up the pitch to challenge Savinho after he beat Calafiori nor in a position to cut down the passing lane through to Haaland.
Arsenal responded less than 15 minutes later with a magnificent shot from distance from Riccardo Calafiori. Only he knows whether he was trying to bend a cross to the far post or curl it into the corner, but it counts all the same. The Gunners took the lead just before halftime on another Gabriel Magalhaes headed goal on a corner.
Everybody knows it's coming. And they still can't stop it. Minutes earlier, Gabriel nearly scored from a corner. In response, Manchester City swapped Kyle Walker to mark Gabriel. Amusingly, cameras showed the City defender poking and slapping Gabriel in the midsection before the corner was taken only to completely lose him once the ball was in flight. Had Rodri been on the field, perhaps he would have been assigned to mark the Arsenal centerback. Unfortunately for Manchester City, the midfielder went off early in the half with what looked like it might be a serious knee injury.
It was another tremendous delivery from Bukayo Saka, who now has assists in five consecutive Premier League matches to start the season, equaling a Thierry Henry mark. Arsenal were set to go in at the half up 2-1, feeling great.
Then Michael Oliver decided it was his time to shine.
There's really not much reason to go into detail about Leandro Trossard's sending off for kicking the ball away a heartbeat after being whistled for a foul in the 7th minute of 6 minutes added to the first half. I went back and watched it. Trossard kicks the ball barely a second after the whistle goes. Surely there should be some lag time between the whistle and the kick. And he's not kicking it in anger or frustration, either. He's playing the ball into space for Kai Havertz to run onto. Nor has he delayed the taking of a quick restart that Manchester City was poised to take.
It's a ridiculous decision that was roundly panned by the punditry. Once again, a Premier League referee has thrust himself into the spotlight and altered the result of a match. The same referee, by the way, who declined to send off Mateo Kovacic in the first half against Arsenal last season because, as Howard Webb suggested when analyzing the decision, he didn't want to "ruin the game."
Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants to see yellow cards for technicalities and teams reduced to 10-men. There wasn't even an issue with kicking the ball away, either. They just made up something to be petty and pedantic about. And they've decided to apply it pretty much exclusively to Arsenal. No other club has had a player given a second yellow for kicking the ball away. Arsenal have had two in three matches.
And the end result is that everyone suffers. That was a fantastic first half of football between the two best teams in the Premier League. The second half was awful.
Arsenal defended so incredibly well and they almost made it to the end. David Raya was heroic. Everybody ran themselves beyond ragged. Manchester City scored from a bouncing ball in the box that just happened to fall to John Stones. Just incredibly unlucky for the Gunners.
The goal came beyond the 7 allotted minutes, I'd add. To be fair, Arsenal milked the clock in added time too, so it was always going to go beyond the 97th, but thinking back over the second half, I struggle to come up with 7 minutes added. It should have been 5 or 6. So you don't think I'm tilting at windmills, apparently Sky Sports checked with Opta Stats for how long the ball was in play in the second half — 35 minutes — the most of any Premier League game this season. That's the way it goes, I guess.
By the way, after the equalizer, Erling Haaland picked the ball out of the goal and threw it off the back of Gabriel Magalhaes head. That's a clear red card infraction, and it was completely missed by the referee and VAR. He should be suspended for the next three matches. Nothing will happen, I can promise you.
The tide is shifting. Manchester City haven't beaten Arsenal in four straight matches. To cap off a ridiculously difficult start to the season, Arsenal beat Tottenham, drew at Atalanta, and were seconds away from winning at Manchester City. This is a damn good Arsenal team. They're best team in the Premier League. Will they be allowed to show it?
